British Citizenship

Lord Avebury: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether a person under the age of 18, who loses his non-British nationality because his parents apply for him to acquire a British passport, is considered by the Home Office to have himself renounced, voluntarily relinquished or lost through action or inaction that other citizenship or nationality.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: In the context of Section 4B of the British Nationality Act 1981, to which I assume the Question relates, we make no distinction between whether the "action or inaction" causing the loss of the other citizenship was that of the applicant or of some other person acting on his behalf. The legislation does not appear to us to direct the Secretary of State to make any such distinction. Depending on the particular circumstances of the case, a different approach might be required in cases under Section 1 of the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997, where the applicant's having given up "of his own volition" another nationality or citizenship on or after the relevant date would serve to disqualify him from registration under that Act.

Doctors' SupportLine

Lord Walton of Detchant: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will renew the project grant awarded in 2002 to the charity Doctors' SupportLine, which is now under threat of closure.

Lord Warner: The Department of Health awarded a grant to primary care mental health education under the Section 64 General Scheme (S64), in respect of the Doctors' Supportline project. This three-year grant ended in 2003–04. The maximum funding period for a project under the S64 is three years.
	The aim of the S64 is to provide time-limited funding for innovative proposals of national significance, which are in furtherance of the department's policy objectives. The S64 makes it clear from the outset that long-term continuous funding for a project is not available via this route.
	The department is investing £5 million over three years to support the development of infrastructure for mental health helplines, through the Mental Health Helplines Partnership (MHHP), which will give better access, choice and quality to callers. Members of the MHHP are eligible to apply for financial assistance on one occasion only, with applications being considered by the MHHP steering group.
	Further information and an application form can be found at www.mhhp.org.uk.

Environmental Protection: Marine Species

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will work to establish marine protected areas and to ensure management improvements across the high seas so that every marine activity is conducted in a reasonable manner.

Lord Rooker: The Government are committed to a Marine Bill, which will introduce a new framework based on marine spatial planning, that balances conservation, energy and resource needs, to obtain best value from different uses of our valuable marine resources by maintaining and protecting the ecosystems on which they depend. We are developing integrated criteria for the selection of marine protected areas (MPAs), including for those for wider nature conservation.
	We are also considering how many additional protected areas might be needed to protect marine ecosystems and biodiversity and fulfil the international commitments we have made in this area.
	The Government are a firm advocate of regional fisheries management organisations in their role in managing fisheries in their areas of jurisdiction. We are strongly in favour of such organisations introducing measures to ensure that fisheries are managed in a sustainable manner on the high seas.

EU: Wine, Fuel and Disinfectant

Lord Dixon-Smith: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What representations they have made to the European Commission following reports that it has recently ordered a quantity of French and Italian wine to be turned into fuel and disinfectant.

Lord Rooker: The UK has consistently made it clear that it believes that these measures should be used only in exceptional circumstances and that action is necessary to address the structural imbalance affecting Community wine production. We therefore welcome the news that the Commission is about to present an options paper for reform of the wine regime in order to improve the sustainability of the sector.
	The provisions relating to the crisis distillation of surplus stocks are laid down in article 30 of council regulation (EC) No. 1493/1999 on the common market organisation of the market in wine. These provisions allow member states to apply to the Commission for crisis distillation where there is a case of exceptional market disturbance caused by serious surpluses and/or quality problems, and require a Commission decision through the management committee procedure.

Firearms: Register

Lord Hogg of Cumbernauld: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What progress has been made towards setting up the national firearms register.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Live pilot testing of the national firearms licensing management system started in two forces on 5 June. If this is successful, it will be rolled out to all forces over the following seven to nine months.

Fishing: Deep-sea Trawling

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will propose an international moratorium on deep-sea ocean-bottom trawling.

Lord Rooker: The UK consider that bans on deep-sea ocean-bottom trawling should be introduced in areas of the high seas where regional fisheries management organisations do not exist. Elsewhere, regional management organisations should give careful consideration to introducing such bans where vulnerable habitats are at risk.

MRSA

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many children under five years have (a) contracted, and (b) died from methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) during (i) 2004; (ii) 2005; and (iii) 2006 to date.

Lord Warner: Data on all cases of meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are not collected centrally. However, data that include a patient's age on MRSA bloodstream infections have been collected under a voluntary scheme. The number of reports of MRSA bloodstream infections in children under five years of age in England are as follows.
	
		
			 Year Number of reports 
			 2004 57 
			 2005 61 
			 20061 22 
		
	
	1provisional data
	Data source: Health Protection Agency Labbase
	Date data extracted: 06/06/06
	Analysis of MRSA deaths in England and Wales is undertaken by the Office for National Statistics. The latest year for which figures are available is 2004 and MRSA was identified as a contributory factor in the death of one child under the age of five.

NHS: Accidental Deaths

Lord Colwyn: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In the last three years for which information is available, how many deaths in each strategic health authority arose from: (a) unnecessary surgery; (b) drug side effects; (c) hospital infections; (d) acupuncture; (e) homeopathy; and (f) misdiagnosis.

Lord Warner: The specific information as requested is not collected centrally.
	(a) For National Health Service hospitals in England and Wales for the past three years, there were two reported incidents of death associated with unnecessary surgery identified by the National Patient Safety Agency's national reporting and learning system. Data by each strategic health authority are not available. It is not possible to tell from these data whether an operation contributed in any way to the actual cause of death of the patient or whether death was a result of other factors such as underlying morbidity.
	(b) For NHS hospitals in the United Kingdom, the numbers of reports of suspected adverse drug reactions reported with a fatal outcome in the past three years are provided in the following table.
	
		
			 Received Year Number of reports Number of reports (percentage) fatal outcome 
			 2003 18,791 737 (4 per cent) 
			 2004 19,337 862 (4 per cent) 
			 2005 21,234 1,032 (5 per cent) 
		
	
	The reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions does not necessarily mean that the reactions were caused by the drug. Many factors have to be taken into account in assessing causal relationships including temporal association, the possible contribution of concomitant medication and the underlying disease. In addition, reporting is subject to variable and unknown levels of under-reporting.
	(c) Information on deaths from all hospital acquired infections is not available. The Office for National Statistics publishes analyses of meticillin resistant staphylococcus aureus and clostridium difficile deaths in England and Wales, but these data do not indicate if the infection was acquired in hospital or elsewhere, or in which strategic health authority it was acquired.
	(d) Information of deaths arising from homeopathy is not available.
	(e) There is no information available of any fatalities associated with acupuncture devices such as needles.
	(f) For NHS hospitals in England and Wales for the past three years, there were 22 reported incidents of death associated with misdiagnosis. Data by each strategic health authority is not available. It is not possible to tell from these data whether misdiagnosis contributed in any way to the actual cause of death.

NHS: Denial of Treatment

Lord Alton of Liverpool: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Warner on 5 June (WA 157), what violence Mr Edward Atkinson is alleged to have committed against National Health Service staff; when this occurred; and to whom it was directed; and
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Warner on 5 June (WA 157), whether the actions taken by Mr Edward Atkinson were abusive or violent.

Lord Warner: The Department of Health guidance to the National Health Service, on the withholding of NHS treatment from violent or abusive patients, was explicit that all NHS trusts develop local policies with independent legal advice on the terms and application of such a policy; and trusts must also have in place clear defensible policies and procedures outlining the circumstances where the withholding of treatment is justifiable. The decision to withhold treatment from Mr Edward Atkinson was made at the discretion of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Trust.

NHS: Denial of Treatment

Lord Alton of Liverpool: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Warner on 5 June (WA 157), how many prisoners and offenders in the United Kingdom have been banned from receiving National Health Service treatments.

Lord Warner: The information requested is not held centrally.

NHS: Private Finance Initiative

Baroness Shephard of Northwold: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Which private finance initiative hospital building projects are currently projected to go over budget; and
	What progress is being made in cutting back future private finance initiative spending in the National Health Service by 25 to 40 per cent.

Lord Warner: All major private finance initiative (PFI) schemes in procurement are subject to a revalidation exercise we announced in January. Revalidation will involve comparing the schemes against a number of tests, to ensure that they properly take account of the new financial mechanisms operating in the National Health Service (such as choice or payment by results), and are properly taking account of activity of the shift away from the acute sector envisaged in the recent White Paper Our health, our care, our say.
	The first three schemes reviewed were Barts and London, Birmingham and St Helens and St Knowsley, a total capital investment of almost £2 billion. All proved generally compliant and recently got the go-ahead to sign contracts, subject to some small reductions in scope.
	Following the review of its proposed £167 million PFI scheme, the board at Essex Rivers NHS Trust announced on 14 June that it is withdrawing from the project. The trust decided that plans for a new treatment and primary care centre, as well as those for a new Harwich Hospital, meant that the project was no longer affordable and did not offer the best way to improve services for local NHS patients.
	Prior to the revalidation exercise the value of the future PFI programme was £12 billion. We are now forecasting an overall reduced post-review value of between £7 billion and £9 billion.
	The announcement of further decisions following the PFI reviews will be in two waves. It is anticipated that the announcement for schemes which are most advanced—generally, those that have already appointed their preferred bidder—will be in late July. The remainder will be announced later in the year.

Official Travel: Department for Transport

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many and what proportion of journeys undertaken by Ministers and officials from the Department for Transport in each of the past five years between London and (a) Paris, and (b) Brussels were undertaken by (i) air, and (ii) by rail.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Department for Transport does not have statistics detailing its rail travel destinations prior to financial year 2005–06, and the figures for that year do not distinguish between Paris and Brussels. In 2005–06 the department recorded 105 journeys by air (84 to Brussels, and 21 to Paris), and 1,945 journeys by rail. This gives a proportion of 5.1 per cent air travel, and 94.9 per cent rail travel.
	None of the department's agencies record travel destination data, except the Government Car Despatch Agency, which reports three journeys to Brussels in the past three years, all undertaken by rail. Further information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Police: Information Sharing

Baroness Harris of Richmond: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Scotland of Asthal on 19 April (WA 227), how the cross-regional information sharing project will enhance existing centralised data warehouses held by police forces in England and Wales.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: A number of forces have their own data warehouses that support their local requirements, and there are some examples of forces that are able to share information stored in their warehouses. There are also a number of national systems covering specific business areas or needs such as the police national computer and the violent and sex offenders register. However, there is no capability that enables consistent access to information in a common format across other business areas and covering all forces in England and Wales. The cross-regional information sharing project will deliver such a capability.

Prisoners: Parole

Lord Lipsey: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether a refusal by prisoners to admit they are guilty of the offence for which they are imprisoned affects their application for parole; and, if so, how.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Parole Board decisions on whether or not to award parole focus on the risk to the public of an offence being committed at a time when the offender would otherwise be in prison. In assessing whether the safety of the public will be placed unacceptably at risk, the board is directed to take into account that the risk of violent or sexual offending is more serious than a risk of other types of offending. This must be balanced against the benefit, both to the public and the offender, of early release back into the community under a degree of supervision which might help rehabilitation and so lessen the risk of reoffending in the future.
	In assessing suitability for release on parole, the Parole Board considers many factors including the nature and circumstances of the offence of which the offender was convicted, any previous convictions, the offender's attitude and response in prison, what, if any, offence-related work has been completed, reports from the Prison and Probation Service and any representations from the offender himself.
	On the strength of the available information it makes a judgment on the likely benefit both to the offender and society in allowing the offender to serve part of the sentence in the community. There is no requirement for an offender to admit guilt prior to making an application for parole, nor is denial of guilt a bar to release on parole licence. Whether an offender denies the offence or not, the Parole Board must always satisfy itself from the evidence available that the risk of reoffending is sufficiently reduced so as not to jeopardise the safety of the public before it directs early release on parole.

Taxation: Accommodation Tax

Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What assessments are being made of the impact of any accommodation tax on smaller hotels; and
	What assessments are being made of the impact of any accommodation tax on regional tourism.

Lord Davies of Oldham: No assessments are being made by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The Lyons inquiry is considering a wide range of issues about local government's role and funding, including the potential for local taxes and charges, and I am aware that a number of tourism industry bodies, at national, regional and local level, have made submissions to Sir Michael Lyons on the potential impact of an accommodation tax. The Government will not take any decisions on changes to local government finance, until they have had the chance to consider and reflect on Sir Michael's report and recommendations. We will fully assess the potential impact of Sir Michael's recommendations once he has made them, as is appropriate in the case of an independent review, and respond accordingly. Sir Michael's final report is scheduled for the end of 2006.

Vehicle and Operator Services Agency

Lord Campbell-Savours: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Against which departmental budget the cost of the award against the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency will be drawn in the case of the Agency v Sealand Boat Deliveries Ltd in the Llangefni magistrate's court.

Lord Davies of Oldham: There were no awards made against the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) in the Sealand Boat Deliveries Ltd case heard at Llangefni court on 30 November 2005.